Richard Morris

Richard Morris is a journalist, author and public relations/public affairs consultant. He has written for a number of UK and US newspapers and magazines and has offered strategic advice to numerous tech companies including Digital Island, Sony and several ISPs. He now specialises in social enterprise and is, among other things, a member of the Big Issue Invest advisory board. Big Issue Invest is the leading provider to high-performing social enterprises & has a strong brand name based on its parent company The Big Issue, described by McKinsey & Co as the most well known and trusted social brand in the UK.

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28 October 2009
28 October 2009

Tucker Taft: Geek of the Week

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What do military networks and a 19th Century Difference Engine have in common? Tucker Taft; industry leader in compiler construction and programming language design, and SoftCheck CTO. Tucker has taught disseminated his encyclopaedic knowledge at Harvard University, and has worked tirelessly to improve the Ada language for 20 years. We sent Richard Morris to find out about more about the man and his two-decade-long project.… Read more
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16 October 2009
16 October 2009

Geek of the Week: Joe Celko

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Joe Celko, the Database Developer and writer from Austin Texas, is not a man to mince his words. His encyclopedic grasp of SQL and relational Databases in general comes from a mix of academic knowledge and practical experience. In discussions he can be fascinating, cantankerous, amusing and satirical, but he is never ever dull, as Richard Morris found out when we sent him to interview the SQL language's most famous advocate.… Read more
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01 October 2009
01 October 2009

Stephen Curtis Johnson: Geek of the Week

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Stephen Johnson, one of the team that developed UNIX, can claim to be the man who originally wrote the software tool that has been the longest continuously advertised and marketed software tool ever, since 1984. Lint for C and C++ was not his only success, though. He wrote YACC too, still used after 35 years, the Portable C Compiler, and possibly his greatest achievement, the MATLAB compiler.… Read more
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01 October 2009
01 October 2009

Walter Bright: Geek of the Week

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After developing the first native C++ compiler, the Zortech C++, and writing the Symantec Java compiler, Walter Bright created D (C Done right). He has written a number of commercial compilers for a number of languages, and D is the culmination of everything he has learned in over twenty years. As a result of all this experience, he has interesting views on compilers and languages.… Read more
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14 September 2009
14 September 2009

Alan Kay: Geek of the Week

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The development of Object-oriented programming, the windowing User-interface, Ethernet and the Laptop all had essential contributions from a brilliant, visionary, former professional Jazz and Rock guitarist. Alan Kay. His second career as a computer scientist led to him being the creative catalyst at Xerox, Atari and Apple. Alan is driven by the vision of the computer's potential role in education, to build a better society. … Read more
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02 September 2009
02 September 2009

Luca Cardelli: Geek of the Week

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Luca Cardelli is probably best known for Polyphonic C# and Biocomputing, but he has designed a number of experimental languages and published a variety of papers on Theoretical Computing subjects such as type theory and operational semantics. He is now Principal Researcher at Microsoft Research in Cambridge, and head of the Programming Principles and Tools and Security groups. We sent a slightly apprehensive Richard Morris to ask him about DNA Computing… Read more
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18 August 2009
18 August 2009

Sir Tony Hoare: Geek of the Week

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After inventing the QuickSort algorithm, and designing the compiler for the Algol 60 programming language, Tony Hoare went on to apply axiomatic semantics to compiler design and his work and writings have since had a great influence on software engineering, and the way we specify, design, implement, and maintain computer programs. Now, at 75, he is working at Microsoft research on projects that will filter through to .NET languages. … Read more
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05 August 2009
05 August 2009

Chuck Moore: Geek of the Week

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Charles Moore is one of the greatest ever programmers. The 'Forth' language he invented is still in use today, particularly by NASA, and has never been bettered for instrumentation and process control. He still argues persuasively that the only way we can develop effective software quickly is to embrace simplicity. Like Niklaus Wirth, he remains a radical whose views have become increasingly relevant to current software development… Read more
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20 July 2009
20 July 2009

Richard Stallman: Geek of the Week

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Many famous geeks work away at their programs without considering the wider implications of what they, and others, are doing. Richard Stallman isn't like that. Richard (rms) is one of the great brains behind Linux Distros, as he wrote the GNU compilers and GNU debugger. He is driven by strong opinions about the nature of free software, and the restrictive nature of software copyright. We sent our intrepid reporter, Richard Morris, to find out if Richard Stallman really required journalists to read parts of the GNU philosophy before an interview, for "efficiency's sake".… Read more
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02 July 2009
02 July 2009

Niklaus Wirth: Geek of the Week

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It is difficult to begin to estimate the huge extent of the contribution that Niklaus Wirth has made to IT as it exists today. Although now retired for ten years, he remains a abiding influence on the design of computer languages. It is likely that the first structured computer language you ever learned was written by him. He still has fascinating views on contemporary software trends, as Richard Morris found out when he spoke to him.… Read more
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15 June 2009
15 June 2009

Craig Newmark: Geek of the Week

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Occasionally, readers of Simple-Talk will ask quizzically if the 'Geek of the Week' that the editors have chosen really is a true 'geek'. Nobody could ever ask that about Craig Newmark, the founder of the famous website 'CraigsList'. The site is uncompromisingly geeky in attitude, spartan in appearance but immensely popular, and supported by an army of enthusiasts. One can say exactly the same about the admirable Craig Newmark himself. … Read more
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28 May 2009
28 May 2009

Ken Blanchard meets the One Minute Reporter

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With economic doom and gloom all around him, Richard Morris decides to seek advice before starting a business. Who better, we suggest, than Ken Blanchard, the relentlessly optimistic purveyor of uplifting materials to the wannabe entrepreneurs, and author of the best-selling 'One Minute Manager'. We sent him of into the rain in his trilby to interview Ken and infuse himself with some get-up-and-go… Read more
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06 May 2009
06 May 2009

Marc Wick: Geek of the Week

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Marc Wick is the genius behind GeoNames, the free Web Service that powers a number of popular GPS applications and games. It is an open-source database of geographical information that is used by hundreds of applications from iPhone apps to political organizations. Its data is used for research and geo-visualizations in universities around the world. It underpins a large number of geography-aware applications and can be loaded into SQL Server Spatial and used with the new geospatial features of SQL Server 2008… Read more
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14 April 2009
14 April 2009

Sarah Lacey on The Rise of Web 2.0

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Sarah Lacy's commentary on the IT Industry for BusinessWeek is widely read and causes polarised opinions. She is a skilled and experienced writer whose work on TechCrunch is a virtuoso display of the art of blogging. Her treatment at the hands of the audience at SXSWi 2008 Tech-fest was the stuff of every journalist's nightmare, and baffling to those of us who watched the video in retrospect. We sent Richard Morris meet her and find out more.… Read more
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19 March 2009
19 March 2009

Anders Hejlsberg: Geek of the Week

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Anders Hejlsberg, the creative genius behind C#, and much of the .NET framework, had already been famous for sixteen years as a compiler-writer before he joined Microsoft twelve years ago. His BLS Pascal, Turbo Pascal, and Delphi had revolutionized the way that we develop software. Today, he is still bubbling with new ideas and radical initiatives.… Read more
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03 March 2009
03 March 2009

Simon Sabin Says SQLBits

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SQLBits is the largest SQL Server conference in Europe. Because it is held on a Saturday, and is free, it has proved extremely popular with database professionals, especially in the current economic climate. SQLBits is renowned for the quality and independence of the speakers. To find out more about SQLBits, , we sent Richard Morris off into the February snows to interview Simon Sabin, the organiser. … Read more
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